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Ketamine analgesia — DIPIMC MCQ

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HardPharmacology (Pre-Hospital)Ketamine analgesiaDIPIMCDipIMC

A trauma patient has severe pain and is hypotensive from blood loss. You need analgesia that will not worsen the haemodynamics, and an experienced clinician is present.

Educational content. Not a substitute for clinical judgement or local policy.

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Correct answer: C — Give a low analgesic dose of ketamine, titrated, because it tends to preserve the blood pressure.

Ketamine at low analgesic doses provides effective pain relief while tending to maintain the blood pressure, which makes it useful in the shocked trauma patient when titrated carefully. A large, rapid morphine bolus can deepen the hypotension. Propofol is an anaesthetic induction agent that causes hypotension and is not an analgesic, and benzodiazepines do not relieve pain.

Reference: JRCALC Clinical Guidelines